SummerTimeOut: OddBalls Nifty Thrift is one of the best in the U.S. says Yelp

Oddballs Nifty Thrift on 13th Street in Fort Lauderdale was named the fifth best in the United States.

We’re all about living our best lives this summer, beating back boredom with easygoing brews, splashy playgrounds, good eats, even duckpin bowling. Keep reading for the best ways to summer like a South Florida local.

They make that clear before you even get inside the mega-popular shop that meanders through eight large rooms. First of all, beside the parking lot in the back of the store, there’s a beer garden (yes, they sell beer and wine) with a winding path filled with fully populated bird cages. Also there’s a guy manning an outdoor grill willing to make you three kinds of burgers, a hot dog or an egg sandwich for $4-$7. And when you get inside, it’s like something from Harry Potter — room after room filled from the floor to the ceiling with a wildly intoxicating jumble of stuff.

It all started in 2013 when former Fort Lauderdale commissioner Tim Smith handed over a dilapidated warehouse he had bought three years earlier to his son, whose name is also Tim Smith.

The younger Smith, born and raised in the neighborhood, says that getting into the thrift game was a no-brainer. “Growing up I always remember my parents taking me to Faith Farm and thrift shops and stuff like that,” the 29-year-old recalls. “So I really did grow up around that. And we had this sort of side job with moving and landscaping jobs and people wanting to get rid of furniture. We were going to swap meets and having yard sales. That’s where the spark happened."

Now the family, including mom Cindy and best friend from high school Logan Ritter, run OddBalls, which is why the younger Smith thinks they got the love from Yelp. “We treat every single person that walks in that door like they’re a friend of ours. No one comes through that door without getting a greeting from us and a smile. Honestly, I think that is really what does it more than almost anything. Aside from that, it’s room after room after room, you know, just the amount of stuff in here. And the types of things you see in here.”